The present invention generally relates to a communication cable and, in particular, relates to one such communication cable having a plurality of strands, each strand having an outer jacket interconnected to adjacent outer jackets by cross pieces such that each strand is able to be used as an independent communication cable.
In general, a communication cable is known from DE 39 37 804 C2, for example. Therein, an optical waveguide having a number of strands is fabricated as a flat cable. A majority of the strands include units that can be used individually. The flat cable described includes a jacketed optical communication line along with a bundled lead or a ribbon cable. The individual strands of the optical communication cable are surrounded by a common jacket and are interconnected by separable cross pieces. The other strands of the communication cable contain pull-proof elements, which make it possible to provide the optical elements with pull relief. Such a communication cable can be used for the low-cost installation of very reliable broad-band communication networks in residential areas.
However, in existing local area networks, the communication connections cannot simply be converted from electrical communication lines to optical communication lines. One reason is that not every subscriber utilizes the broad-band services. As a result, in many instances it is presently more economical to retain the conventional copper or aluminum, i.e. electrical technology, wiring for such uses as carrier frequency (TF) transmission via four-wire lines, pulse code modulation (PCM) transmission through coaxial fines, or the like, in addition to the optical communication elements.
Consequently, it is highly desireable to provide a communication cable that can provide both broadband optical communication services on demand as well as conventional electrical communication.